Find me the guacamole. Philips intelligent LED lighting helps shoppers with information and special offers

Stephen Kennett
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2degrees
• Community manager
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News •

Philips is piloting an intelligent lighting system that sends special offers and information to the shopper depending on their location in the store

A sample app using Philips connected retail lighting system.

The system uses intelligent LED in-store lighting to communicate location-based information to shoppers via a smartphone app which they can opt to download. The lighting communicates with the app to send special offers and information to the shopper, relevant to their location in the store.

According to Philips, shoppers will benefit from greater personal control of their shopping experience while retailers will benefit by building customer loyalty and sales by providing targeted information and discount coupons at their precise position in the store when shoppers are most receptive. Retailers will also benefit from energy efficient LED lighting which provides improved lighting levels and lower electricity bills.

“The beauty of the system is that retailers do not have to invest in additional infrastructure to house, power and support location beacons for indoor positioning,’’ said Gerben van der Lugt from Philips Lighting ‘’The light fixtures themselves can communicate this information by virtue of their presence everywhere in the store.’’
The system uses lighting fixtures to form a dense network that provide high quality light and also act as a positioning grid. Each fixture is identifiable and able to communicate its position to an app on a shopper’s smart device. This enables the shopper to get information related to their position in the store as they move around the store and location-based services are triggered.

The smart phone app can also act as a ‘personal shopper’. For example, if a shopper plans to make a Mexican meal for dinner, the app on their smart phone can point them to the aisle where they would find a jar of guacamole, or, if they preferred to make it fresh, plot a route through the aisles to the avocados, tomatoes, onions, chilies and limes. As the shopper approaches various products, the app could also introduce new brands available in the store or make suggestions for alternate recipes.